Nature And Chaos In Macbeth And Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe's Faust

Not surprisingly, Macbeth has received volumes of critical commentary over the years. Not only is the play an audience favorite, but its complex characterization, deeply woven themes, and characteristic Shakespearean style make it rich ground for scholarly inquiry. Critics such as Harold Bloom have remarked on the importance of Macbeth in the context of Shakespeare 's works. In Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Bloom writes, ' 'The rough magic in Macbeth is wholly Shakespeare 's; he indulges his own imagination as never before, seeking to find its moral limits (if any). ' ' Bloom also remarks, ' 'Macbeth is an uncanny unity of setting, plot, and characters, fused together beyond comparison with any other play of Shakespeare 's. '

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth’s visions and hallucinations play a significant role and contribute to the development of his character. In the play Macbeth, a man is driven to murder his king and his companions after receiving a fairly ambiguous prophecy told by three witches. Although the witches triggered the series of events that later aid Macbeth’s descent into complete insanity, Macbeth is portrayed from the very beginning as a fierce and violent soldier. As the play goes on, several internal conflicts inside of Macbeth become clear. After he performs several bloody tasks, the madness inside of Macbeth is unmistakably visible to everyone around him. As a result of this insanity, he sees visions and hallucinations. Each time Macbeth

In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, he exhibits the personal transformation of Macbeth, a general with the huge desire. Based on the tragic ending of Macbeth, Shakespeare reveals the versatility and complexity of human nature, exhibits the distortion of natural mind of people. In Shakespeare’s thought, Macbeth’s tragedy is mainly accomplished by three evil acts assassinating Ducan, killing Banquo, and massacre the family of Macduff. Macbeth wants to be a great man with his great ambition. In his initial desire of human nature, he hopes to achieve ambition by proper means; however, under the temptation of witches and instigation of his wife, the original calm, and balance of Macbeth is broken. When his impatient desire tilts the balance between his emotions and his senses, Macbeth comes up with the delusion of killing Ducan and Banquo. Thus, Macbeth is immersed in an extreme self-contradiction that inner good and evil keeps struggling. Author shows the characteristic evolution of Macbeth from an illustrious military general and valiant hero who brings peace and stability to the country to a selfish careerist and a bloody tyrant who only pursues his own goal. Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as the victim of desire and lack of moral judgment between good and evil in order to question the human internal contradiction of conscience and ambition.

     In his masterpiece Macbeth, William Shakespeare employs many motifs, but none more often than blood and water. The play includes many images of blood and water to show the characters' attitudes toward their own development of guilt. Both motifs mature and change in their meaning along with the setting and mood of the play. “Without an understanding of the blood and water symbolism, the play cannot be completely understood”(Scott 14). Blood symbolizes honor, treachery, and guilt. Water, in contrast, symbolizes cleanliness and purity of the soul, as though all it takes is water to wash guilt away.

William Shakespeare's Macbeth is an ominous tale that illustrates the danger in violating the Great Chain of Being, the hierarchy of things in God's ordered universe. The Chain ranked all of creation and human society as well. It ranked kings above nobles and nobles above the poor. When Macbeth murdered King Duncan and assumed the throne, the Chain was violated and chaos resulted. The atmosphere of the play symbolized this resulting turmoil. Specifically, light and darkness were used to exemplify the unnatural chaos and ominous tone of the work. The role of light and the role of darkness relates to the chaos resulting from the violation of the Great Chain of Being.

    The aura of darkness, deception, and horror present in William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, envelopes the entire play and is created mainly by the sense of violence and foreboding that is evoked by the imagery.  The dominant images of nature and the supernatural contribute to the atmosphere of this tragedy.  The predictions of the weird sisters, along with natural forces and supernatural images, have lead to chaos in Scotland due to their impact on the characters of the play, which brings about many delusions and deaths.

The Human Nature of an individual is the driving force of choice, where a right or wrong path is chosen. This can ultimately be influenced by personal ambitions and moral decisions which could cause conflict due to the excessiveness of power. This is explored through the play Macbeth, where Shakespeare portrays the downfall of characters through complex representations of human nature, discovered through the plot of play. The concepts of power and ambition causing a destruction to the greater chain of being is a constant reflection of their downfall and the lead up to guilt which consequently has an eternal effect on the rest of their lives, leading to their destructive ends. The subversion of gender roles in the Macbeth family are seen through the character construction of both characters, typically for Lady Macbeth as her characteristics converse heavily with women during the Elizabethan period. Shakespeare continually uses the motif of blood, to represent the concept of guilt, in order to preview the complexity of the Macbeth family’s character.

Thus the sense of the unnaturalness of evil is evoked not only be repeated explicit references ("nature's mischief," "nature seems dead," " 'Tis unnatural, even like the deed that's done," and so on) but by the expression of unnatural sentiments and an unnatural violence of tone in such things as Lady Macbeth's invocation of the "spirits" who will "unsex" her, and her affirmation that she would murder the babe at her breast if she had sworn to do it. (95)

The Lesser of Two Evils Hatred, internal turmoil, and grief are all emotional phases people experience in life. Self-hate is a timeless attribute that thrives throughout the societies of the world. Christianity came about from one man named Jesus Christ. The teachings he taught to the people of the land were focused on forgiveness and love. The sole purpose of the Christian religion is to help people repent of their wrong doings.

Any sensible person would like to think that not just anyone can become a murderer. However, debates about how human nature and nurture influence people continue today as they did in the past. In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare plays with this idea using the influences and characterization of Macbeth. At the start of the play, Macbeth and Banquo win a battle for Scotland and Macbeth is rewarded with the title of Thane of Cawdor right after 3 witches predict that he will become the Thane of Cawdor and the new King. Macbeth is now convinced he has to be the king, his wife, Lady Macbeth helps him with his plan. Although he succeeded in becoming king, he really just started his own downfall where in order to stay in power, he has to betray many old friends. Macbeth is influenced by society and others. The desires inside him become overruling. In the end, the negative influences win. Although he has many influences in his life, in the end, Macbeth gives in the forces that end up destroying him.

The uses of the motifs of nature and blood in act II of Macbeth show that Macbeth is a deceptive character. The motif of nature in the context of Macbeth’s preference towards the supernatural ties into Macbeth’s deceptive character. In the events leading up to Duncan’s murder, Macbeth faces a vivid supernatural encounter and, in a sweeping spurn of the natural world, Macbeth becomes emotionally influenced, noting that “o’er the [supernatural] world, nature [seems] dead” (2.2.61-61). Later, surrounded by his companions in the face of Duncan’s dead body, Macbeth grieves that “[Duncan’s] gashed stabs [look] like a breach in nature” (2.3.130-132).

During the Elizabethan era, the Great Chain of Being was considered the governing rule of all beings, and that chaos would occur if it was not followed. In Act II of “Macbeth”, the negative consequences of Macbeth disrupting the Great Chain of Being is demonstrated after he murders Duncan. Due to the disruption of the Great Chain, people who are not involved in the scheme are put into discomfort and nature becomes out of order, which results in chaos in the mortal world and leads to Macbeth’s demise. At the time of Duncan’s murder, the common people feel the strangeness of the rebellion against the Great Chain of Being around themselves. Before Macduff makes the announcement that the king is dead, Lennox reports that “The night has been unruly”

One of the prominent themes is appearance versus reality, the duality of human nature. In Macbeth we see this theme numerous times in many of the scenes. In act 1 scene 3 Macbeth meets the witches for the first time they give him the vision of being ‘thane of Cawdor’ and thereafter the ‘king’ himself. After the vision we begin to see that Macbeth has begun pondering whether he shall murder Duncan and taking his ‘rightful’ place as king. However at the end of this scene he begins to think in a rational manner and states “If chance may have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir” and “Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day” this shows that he believes that if it is a prophecy then it will come true without him having to do anything. Banquo had warned Macbeth that “oftentimes to win us to our harm these instruments of darkness tell us truths…to betray us in deepest consequence” although Macbeth stubbornly overlooked

Dr. Faustus in The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare’s Macbeth have similar interactions with forces of evil. Both characters believe it is necessary to gain power by following the devil or witches. Macbeth follows the witches’ equivocal prophecy to have absolute control over Scotland. He gives up his place in heaven to be king on earth. After Macbeth’s murder of Duncan, Macbeth has entered into a Faustian Bargain which he will never be able to return from.

An individual’s imagination is an incredible and persuasive influence on his or her actions. Imagination is defined by Google as “the. . . action of forming new images or concepts . . . not present to the senses.” Many tales and stories have a protagonist with a game-changing imagination. Imagination often persuades people to think one way or another, even though it is often obvious that the reality is much different from their perception. In William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, the main character is often influenced by his imaginative mind, and evidence of this can be found in three scenes: act 2, scene 2 after the murder of king Duncan; act 3, scene 4 when banquo’s ghost haunts the feast; and act 5, scene 3 before the final battle.